Bellarmine’s easy stroll to a CCS Open Division title

It’s been pretty clear all season long that Bellarmine is the best team in the Central Coast Section. But this? This game, a 41-13 blowout of Palo Alto, was pretty incredible.

Travis McHugh will get the headlines, and deservedly so. He was interviewed for about 20 minutes after his four-TD performance by seemingly every person that’s covered high school sports around here this season, and he of course obliged them all.

But tonight was really about the defense. A defense that held Palo Alto to 51 yards in the first half and didn’t give up an offensive touchdown until the starters had been pulled. (I was standing next to a group of those defensive starters and they were bummed when B.J. Boyd hauled in a 48-yard touchdown pass late. Just shows you how competitive that group is.)
The defense picked off Keller Chryst twice and had him on the run all night long. Boyd was hardly involved, and when Palo Alto looked for him twice early the results were a Crawley interception and a pass breakup by Greg Kenter.

“That was our defensive game plan,” Joe Gigantino said. “We focused on that and we had a really good game.”

Bellarmine shut down the entire Palo Alto offense. Dre Hill had what I imagine was the worst night of his career and the short passing game that worked so well last week against St. Francis was nonexistent. Gigantino called it the best defensive performance of the season, and having seen the Bells six times I’d have to agree.

I’ve got other thoughts, but first an apology. I see that our commenting system is still down, which obviously is terrible, terrible timing. That sucks…and my apologies to those of you who have made it such a lively discussion throughout the season and were hoping to do so again tonight.

— Check the end of the game story for quotes from CCS commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser, who will be part of the state selection meeting next weekend. Nancy was understandably understated, and I’m sure those meetings get pretty heated at times … but I can’t imagine Bellarmine being left out of the picture.

An overtime road loss to a national power + an undefeated WCAL season + a dominant run through the Open Division + a demolition of the reigning state champs…

If that doesn’t equal a trip to the Home Depot Center, this system is as flawed as the BCS.

— I’ve compared Travis McHugh to Tim Tebow a few times this season, mostly because of the way he plays. But on the sideline tonight a fellow reporter pointed out that the Tebow comparison is more apt if you look at him when he’s not playing. Travis is a pretty vocal leader, and his teammates seem to absolutely love the guy.

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” said Brad Kuh, who had a monster game himself. “He puts this team on his back.”

Added Tim Crawley: “”Whenever Travis has the ball in his hands, we know something good is going to happen. He just always finds a way to get it done. Whenever times are tough he finds a way. I really admire what he does.”

Looking back on it, it’s hard to imagine times were ever tough tonight. But Bellarmine wasn’t sharp offensively in the opening minutes, and then McHugh broke them out of the funk with a 54-yard outside run for a score.

The Bells practiced getting around the edges often this week and it payed off.

— Alex Manigo’s broken tackle and run in the first half. WOW.

— McHugh told me Monday that he was putting a lot of work in on extra points, and he was 6 for 7 tonight. Not perfect, but a huge improvement over previous games. (Not that it mattered at all)

— How would you like to be the Gigantino family this weekend? Joe helped lead the Bells to a title Friday night, and now the family has to get down to Irvine to watch his sister, Emily, play for Presentation in Saturday’s Division II state championship game.

“I couldn’t be prouder of what she’s done,” Joe said. “And she’s only a sophomore!”

— Another sophomore, Palo Alto’s Chryst, looked shaken after the loss, but Palo Alto will be back. There’s a lot of young talent there, and don’t forget, it was a group of three-year varsity players that led Bellarmine to a title tonight.

— It’s hard to watch the line when you’re keeping stats for a story because you kinda have to follow the ball. But Epie Sona, Kuh, Liam Lambert and the rest of that group dominated.

— The first team to win three Open Division titles? The Bells.

— I know people dig in for life on the opt-up issue, but you can kind of see why Valley Christian and Serra wanted no part of this Bellarmine team, right? Multiple WCAL coaches told me in the last month that Bellarmine was only getting better and better. They knew what was coming in the postseason.

— I’ll be at Los Gatos-Pioneer tomorrow night. Follow along on Twitter: @MercPreps.

— I’ll leave you with McHugh’s quote on the selection committee’s decision: “If they call our number, we’ll be ready.”